Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
I did not like this book very much. I found the plot boring and the book was a wasted opportunity to really show the black sun organization.
This was my second read after about 20 years. First time I read it as a teenager i did enjoy it.
This was my second read after about 20 years. First time I read it as a teenager i did enjoy it.
There’s always a bigger fish. And hyphens, apparently! Despite the somewhat distracting number of hyphens, the story manages to keep the attention going like E5. Lando gets some much-needed spotlight time, a lot of random world building tidbits get discussed, and there is some neat POVs from others.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Dash Rengar sucks, but everything else in this book is fantastic. I really believe that this is the story that took Luke from the impatient kid to Jedi Knight.
All the furore over the release of Episode III has made me go back and search out some of the Star Wars Extended Universe novels that I devoured so furiously when I was a kid, out of the hope that immersing myself in the Original Trilogy and the books based around it would help block out some of the pain caused by the prequels. They're essentially glorified, sanctioned fanfiction - though the ten-through-twelve-year-old version of me didn't know that. Shadows of the Empire was one of my favourites at the time, and I was curious to see how it would stand up re-reading it so many years later.
To put it bluntly: not bad. Re-reading it with the knowledge of what fanfiction is in my mind, it really does seem more than ever like one. It even fulfils a role which a lot of fanfic takes on - filling in events which take place 'off-screen' in canon, the background events which we don't get to see. The book itself is set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and tells the story of the first failed attempt to rescue Han.
The pacing is as fast and the action as non-stop as the movies, helping to pull along the plot, which aspires to the Machiavellian, but which really ends up achieving only the political acumen which one could imagine the bastard love child of Blair and Bush possessing. The characterisation is mostly good, too, with the addition of some new OCs - Guri (the assassin femme fetale droid, whom I quite like); Prince Xizor (the mostly fun-in-a-ahahaomgwtf! way Gary Stu who continues on in the fine tradition of fantasy novel characters having really fucking stupid names); and Dash Rendar (so obviously a clone of Han Solo I'm surprised they didn't test his DNA for Corellian ancestry). The expansion of the canonical universe I especially liked - particularly the parts where we get to see something of how the Empire operated on a day-to-day basis.
The dialogue, however, is choppy, and often reads more like a screen-play than a novel. The exposition too often seems forced - something which seems especially irksome when you consider that the number of people reading this who don't have a fairly good knowledge of the Star Wars universe will more than probably be extremely low.
All in all, though, it's a fun read if you have an hour or two to spare and want to switch your brain off. If Star Wars is a popcorn kind of movie, this is a popcorn kind of book.
To put it bluntly: not bad. Re-reading it with the knowledge of what fanfiction is in my mind, it really does seem more than ever like one. It even fulfils a role which a lot of fanfic takes on - filling in events which take place 'off-screen' in canon, the background events which we don't get to see. The book itself is set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and tells the story of the first failed attempt to rescue Han.
The pacing is as fast and the action as non-stop as the movies, helping to pull along the plot, which aspires to the Machiavellian, but which really ends up achieving only the political acumen which one could imagine the bastard love child of Blair and Bush possessing. The characterisation is mostly good, too, with the addition of some new OCs - Guri (the assassin femme fetale droid, whom I quite like); Prince Xizor (the mostly fun-in-a-ahahaomgwtf! way Gary Stu who continues on in the fine tradition of fantasy novel characters having really fucking stupid names); and Dash Rendar (so obviously a clone of Han Solo I'm surprised they didn't test his DNA for Corellian ancestry). The expansion of the canonical universe I especially liked - particularly the parts where we get to see something of how the Empire operated on a day-to-day basis.
The dialogue, however, is choppy, and often reads more like a screen-play than a novel. The exposition too often seems forced - something which seems especially irksome when you consider that the number of people reading this who don't have a fairly good knowledge of the Star Wars universe will more than probably be extremely low.
All in all, though, it's a fun read if you have an hour or two to spare and want to switch your brain off. If Star Wars is a popcorn kind of movie, this is a popcorn kind of book.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes